4th Year Honours Projects

Read through the information outlined on these webpages, then reach out to the Undergraduate Administrator if further clarification is required.

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Project Offerings

The Department of Neuroscience has a selection of capstone projects for students in the Neuroscience & Mental Health Honours:

• NEUR 4905 Honours Workshop – focus on science communication
• NEUR 4907 Honours Essay – focus on literature review
• NEUR 4908 Research Thesis – focus on hands-on research (either human- or animal-based)
• NEUR 4904: Honours Research Thesis in Systematic Reviews or Meta-Analyses (not available for 2026-27)
• NEUR 4906: Translational Approach to Indigenous Community Wellness (not available for 2026-27)

Students in the Neuroscience & Biology Combined Honours can apply to one of the above projects but also have the option to pursue a BIOL project in lieu of a NEUR project. This means the work would be more biology-focused than neuroscience, and the process is managed through the Department of Biology.

Click here for BIOL project details and application process.

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Eligibility & Application Process

• Acceptance into a NEUR project is mainly determined by post-undergraduate objectives and meeting eligibility requirements as outlined below. An application must be submitted for every project, including the NEUR 4905 Workshop.

• Communications from the Undergraduate Administrator are directed to upper-year students & those registered in NEUR 3206 beginning in early October to prepare for the next cycle of applications.

• Read through the information below and refer to our Frequently Asked Questions and then reach out to the Undergraduate Administrator if further clarification is required.

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2026-27 Application Form

Submit by 11:59pm ET on Sunday, March 15, 2026

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Securing a Supervisor for NEUR 4907 or NEUR 4908

Preliminary acceptance by a supervisor is part of the application process for NEUR 4907 and NEUR 4908. This means that by the time you submit your application, you’ll have spoken to at least one (and up to three) researchers who agree you can indicate them as potential supervisor on your application.

It’s recommended to use Fall Reading Week as a benchmark for when to start reaching out. Some researchers will tell you contact them again in January, whereas others may wish to set up a meeting later in the fall semester.

All projects have to be on the topic of neuroscience, but within that scope, a supervisor can be:

• a faculty member in the Dept. of Neuroscience
• a faculty member at Carleton who is cross-appointed with the Dept. of Neuroscience
• a researcher associated with the Dept. of Neuroscience but not employed by Carleton
• a researcher external to Carleton who has supervised our students in the past
• a researcher external to Carleton who is not associated with the Dept. of Neuroscience
• a faculty member at Carleton who is not associated with the Dept. of Neuroscience

Contact info is listed are below in the resource section.

If you already have an idea of who you would like to supervise your project, simply contact them to discuss further. If you do not have anyone particular in mind, start by browsing researcher profiles. Resources provided below.

For NEUR 4908 in particular, you should speak to at least two or three potential supervisors to learn what kind of research projects they may be involved with and get a sense of management styles and lab culture, as finding the right fit is important since you’ll be spending one year on this project.

A co-supervisor is only required if the supervisor is external to Carleton University. When discussing potential supervision with a researcher outside of Carleton you can ask them if they currently collaborate with a faculty member in the Department of Neuroscience. If so, that would be the first person to approach about co-supervision. If they do not, then you can ask any neuroscience faculty member who does similar research or ask the Undergraduate Chair to take on this role.

Supervisor Connection Strategies

Use this email template to draft your initial correspondence and check out these tips from the SSSC as well.

Attending events like the Neuroscience Colloquium and Brainbytes is a great way to find out who is doing what kind of research in the department, locally, and beyond the National Capital Region – getting a lay of the land and building relationships with people who are already doing the things you’re interested in doing is a key part of what will make up your life after undergraduate studies. It’s important to talk to strangers! Career Services has a slew of resources to assist with this side of things.

You can speak to current neuroscience graduate students, as they are the ones with whom you’ll likely be working directly. They are typically the teaching assistants in your NEUR courses, so you can initiate conversations before/after class or during office hours, where applicable.

Note, your chances of being accepted into a NEUR 4908 are higher if you are already connected with a lab through volunteering or internship. However, students not yet connected to a lab/researcher are still very much encouraged to reach out to potential supervisors about NEUR 4908 availability.

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Projects not available in 2026-27

NEUR 4904: Honours Research Thesis in Systematic Reviews or Meta-Analyses

The primary focus of this project is related to undertaking systematic reviews and the statistical methodology to carry out a meta-analysis. Successful completion of this project is expected to position students to undertake graduate work. Those who specifically wish to pursue graduate work in Neuroscience should choose a research topic for their project on a relevant topic.

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NEUR 4906: Translational Approach to Indigenous Community Wellness

This project involves being part of an interdisciplinary team that conducts a community-led initiative with a northern Indigenous community, leading to the co-development of a program, process or product that addresses a current and specific real-life health issue identified by the community.